Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Mango Massacre

this is all i can bare to do for food when the weather is horrible.it wasnt quite so bad today but its been over 100 degrees and humid. i took a risk on sunday and ate out. i had a spicy tuna roll at local sushi place. i wish i had some now. also i think this juicy deliciousness would be called food porn,right? im heading to carlsbad tonight. its a beach town in san deigo. cant wait to dip the toes in the pacific. hope all is well everyone.

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

More Garden Pictures....

look i painted some old chairs that were here when we moved in 8 years ago turquoise finally....

The last of the naked ladies....

Lovely lantana with a little orange moth....

Look its orange jubilee and its so jubilant....

Its me...HELLO.... from the other day after a horrible bout of food poisoning from a restaurant

Saturday, August 20, 2011

lemon trees

under lemon trees

your sweet soft lips touch mine there

making my heart bleed

Friday, August 19, 2011

dinner last night

rolling out the dough....

jalapenos and pineapple....

a blend of mexican cheeses....

can you say spicy sweet? too bad you were not here to share. maybe next time?

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

watercolors

just a little peak at a new watercolor painting i am working on. im trying to practice some wet in wet which absolutely scares the crap out of me



fabulous hostess gifts



oh yeah and the figs and fruit i mentioned in the last post were gifts too. thanks so much. i am so lucky to have such wonderful people around me!!

Sunday, August 14, 2011

lunch







i really cant complain, can i? thanks again kim!!

The Night of the Full Moon

last night was our second annual summer potluck and pie contest.


it was a full moon in aquarius which is perfect because thats what i am.


candle lit cocktail table under the locust tree


in the dark


in the light


my 83 year old grandma getting down with some food and wine


my friend valerie i just love her hair. i want cool hair. she is also my partner in linocutting


blurry night time photo of steve the griller of eggplants. thanks steve you rule! he is belongs to my friend kim of jikits. she is the fantastic maker of mobiles and origami and such!


donovan and sophie playing with bionicles


pies pies and more pies....this first one was a banana cream pie with coconut.


here is my moms apple pie. it actually won this year.


here is the pie kim brought. it was a lime pie and it was friggin delicious. it came in second. i ate that and my moms. i wasnt a judge i was the organiser of the tastings for the judges.


it was a great night but my feet hurt now!

Monday, August 8, 2011

Jack

wearing the hottest look of the season. sophies hat and nutella.

Saturday, August 6, 2011

Rose Mountain

i thought about how you are doing this morning. you see i started to run...well jog again. they repaved my street so its as smooth as a babies bottom and i think my ankle will be okay. so looking out at the vast fields and mountain still misty in the early haze you popped in my mind and how i miss your insightful posts and your posts about running because im pretty sure you run not jog. so i kid you not it was like a psychedelic dream the road literally stretched out before my eyes as i was thinking about all of the things and whats going right and wrong in my life. it seemed so long and the sun made it almost gleam silver and then i started to weep and a weep that would of surely turned heads if people had been out and thats when i thought of you. i hope all is well if you are still reading this.

Thursday, August 4, 2011

Naked Ladies 2011

They used to come up in september but the last few years they have been coming up in august.

thats alright with me. so i made an arrangement of aeoniums pyracanthus foliage and berries and flowering cinnamon basil and purple basil. it smells lovely.

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Monsoon Sunday

So there was lightning thunder and lots and lots of rain. Monsoonal weather is kind of sexy at least I think so. So what to do? Not what you are thinking you naughty little kittens. I made strawberry nectarine crumble with clove and cinnamon.

There was also almond clove whipped cream....can you say yum?



one pint of whipping cream


one tablespoon of powdered sugar


a dash of almond extract


a dash of powdered clove


whip it up in your blender until it well looks like whipping cream.

I just kind of made up the recipe.

As you can tell it was a hit.

The crumble was made with


one stick of cubed butter


one cup rice flour


one teaspoon salt


one half teaspoon of cinnamon and clove


half a cup of oats


half a cup of slice almonds


one third cup brown sugar


i mixed it with my fingers until it was clumpy. spread on your filling before putting into oven.

The filling was easy


one pound hulled strawberries


two pound sliced nectarines


quarter cup of cornstarch


one teaspoon sugar


half teaspoon of cinnamon and clove


one teaspoon of almond extract.


mix it together and fill your over proof dish or dishes. I also preheated my oven to 350 f and cooked them for about 40 minutes until they were bubbly. I got my small ceramic tart pans from ikea.I didnt add a lot of sugar because i hate really sweet fruit filling. I thought the crumble topping and whipping cream made up for that.you could also use more or less of the spice but since my chlidren havent really experienced clove i didnt want to overwhelm there palate so they hate clove later.

What to do with the pits and skins???? Throw them in a pan with a half a cup of brown sugar a few strawberries and some powdered clove. Fill pan with water until everything is just covered. Boil away stirring so it doesnt stick to bottom of pan. you may have to lower the heat to medium. When its thick and syrupy it should be done. Be sure to chop up the skins as well. The skins should start to break down and the meat of the fruit should start to come off of the pits you can help out with a wooden spoon by scraping them. It makes about a half of cup of pure deliciousnessEnjoy!